EXTRACT FOR
Home Fires
(Giselle Renarde)

"I used to have a girlfriend," Marina said as she tossed a dishtowel over her shoulder. She squirted soap into the stream of hot water, and little white bubbles filled the sink. "This was back before we got together, obviously."



Brian didn't look up from the Sunday paper, even as she collected the breakfast dishes from under his nose.



"Is that so?" he replied with an air of disbelief masquerading as disinterest.



"Did you hear me, Brian?" Egg cups and coffee spoons clattered against the sides of the sink. She turned off the water. "I said I had a girlfriend when I was younger. A female lover! Doesn't that excite you? Arouse you? Evoke any sort of visceral reaction in your gut?"



"Yes, that's very nice, dear."



She rapped her wet fingernails against the countertop for a full thirty seconds, but he didn't look up from his paper.



"Fine," she snapped. "I'll prove it to you."